General Assembly half-time report on pro-family legislation

The General Assembly is nearing the half-way point of its 2005 regular session, a day known in Richmond as “crossover.” The term refers to the deadline for the delegates and senators to complete work on the legislation that originated in their own chambers.

From now until the end of the session, each will consider legislation that already has passed the other. Since crossover is a major hurdle for legislation, now is a good time for a progress report on some pro-family legislation before the General Assembly.

The House of Delegates has overwhelmingly passed a bill designed to protect public school students from intrusive questions from government officials. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax, would regulate the growing number of “surveys” that school officials have used to extract personal information from minor children. For a student to participate, HB 2613 requires school boards to get the written, informed consent of at least one parent, at least 30 days before the conduct of a survey or questionnaire.

The proposed law would apply if the survey “will result in the disclosure of the parent's political affiliations, the social security numbers of parents or students, family income, family dynamics and relationships, critical assessments of family members, the sexual behavior and attitudes of family members, and family mental, health, and psychological problems.” The bill still faces the formidable hurdle of the Senate Education and Health Committee, which never shows enthusiasm for protecting parental rights. But if it can pass their scrutiny, this common sense law likely will pass the Senate, as it did the House, by a veto-proof majority.

Education and Health also will consider a bill from Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, that would require all colleges and universities in the Commonwealth to report annually on the purpose, amount and distribution of student fees. HB 1816 also would force colleges to report details about each organization that receives $100 or more from student fees. Similar to the public school survey bill, Marshall’s bill was passed overwhelmingly by the delegates.

Del. Marshall also has been leading the fight to impose stricter state regulations on abortion clinics. HB 2347 empowers local governments to establish licensing procedures for medical facilities in which more than 25 abortions per month are performed. The good news is the delegates passed this measure last week. The bad news, the Senate has referred it to Education and Health, and the House did not have a veto-proof majority.

Virginia is one step closer to requiring abortionists to provide anesthesia to “preborn children” more than 20 weeks old. Del. Richard Black (R-Loudoun) successfully steered HB 1524 to House passage, with 72 “yea” votes, more than enough to override a gubernatorial veto. Again, the bill first will have to get past Senate Education and Health.

The prognosis for this pro-life and pro-family legislation is not good, since Education and Health already has made some horrendous decisions this session. (The Committee is in no danger of losing the title I gave it last year: the place where good legislation goes to die.)

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, joined eight other liberal senators (Republicans and Democrats) in defeating a bill that would define abortion clinics as outpatient surgical hospitals and impose on them the appropriate health and safety regulations. The committee vote means there is less safety for women in abortion clinics than at any other medical facility in the state.

Abortion is, undoubtedly and inescapably, outpatient surgery (unless there are complications, in which case it becomes inpatient surgery). That the members of Education and Health were willing to dismiss this plain fact in their desire to protect abortionists does not bode well for the other common sense measures that the committee soon will consider.

To give the committee its due, however, it did pass a bill legalizing midwives in Virginia, something most other states did years ago. It is worth noting that the only vote in committee against providing this option to women came from Edwards. He, however, did vote for the measure when it got to the Senate floor.

In his campaign for Virginia Attorney General, Edwards will be able to paraphrase John Kerry and say, “I actually voted against midwives, before I voted for them.” Perhaps somewhere between the committee vote and the Senate vote, Edwards remembered he was supposed to be pro-choice.

The House of Delegates is doing an excellent job of looking out for Virginia’s families -- and for the most vulnerable Virginians. I suspect most Senators would do the same, if only the Senate’s most liberal committee would get out of the way.